Jason Day
by cosmictrap
Summary: An Alternate Universe where Jess has a protective older brother, Jason Day - a music journalist. Jess gets a call from Joan to bail him out of jail, and Nick and Jess struggle with a few questions regarding their relationship.
1. Brother I

**Brother I**

Nick is startled awake by the shrill ringtone of Jess's phone. He feels her move under his arm, and grunts in annoyance when she tries to pry his arm off her waist. But he complies after some resistance and lets her go, fully awake now as he watches her reach for her phone on the nightstand.

"Hey, Mom," she says, voice hoarse with sleep.

Nick frowns, wondering why Joan had called at 8:30 in the morning, on a weekend. He hopes everything was okay.

" _What?!"_

She ks fully awake now and starts to sit up on her bed. Nick places a inquiring hand on her arm as he raises himself on his elbow, looking at her with concern. She is wide-eyed, and she looks at him with surprise and shock.

"Yeah, okay, Mom. I'm on my way," she says, before hanging up and frowns in confusion at her phone.

"Jess, what is it?"

"My brother's in jail," she says slowly, the puzzled expression not leaving her face.

"What?" says Nick incredulously. "Why?"

"I- I don't know," Jess says frowning, and starts to get out of bed. "But he's here in L.A. and I need to bail him out."

Nick nods and jumps out of bed too. "Okay, I'll come with you."

"No!" says Jess quickly. "No, that's fine, Nick. I'll-I'll go by myself."

"But Jess, I could-"

"Nick, no, don't worry about it!" she cuts him off. "I can manage."

With that, she hurries out of the door before Nick could argue. Nick sits in bed, staring after her, wondering if he was reading too much into her weird behaviour. He slowly walks out her bedroom and heads to the kitchen, deciding to make them both breakfast before she left.

He forgets about his dilemma for a while, and after Jess leaves to bail her brother out, Nick finds himself agreeing to be Schmidt's wingman at a bar mitzvah. As the day progresses, Nick's insecurities begin to get the better of him and he wonders if Jess was too embarrassed by him to have him meet her older brother.

...

"Hey, Tiny!" is the first thing Jason Day says when he steps out of custody, a big smile on his face.

Jess runs towards him and envelopes him in a hug, and he drops the heavy bag he's holding to his feet as she hurtles towards him. As he lifts her off the floor, he can't help the small smile that comes onto his face as he hugs her, because he remembers why he chooses to come back to Los Angeles in the first place.

As he sets her down on her feet again, he is met by a sharp jab in the stomach. " _Why were you jail!"_ she asks sternly, hands on both her hips.

"Relax, Tiny," Jason chuckles and throws an arm over shoulder as she walks them to her car. "I got a little carried away on one of the gigs I was covering."

Jess raises her brows questioningly.

"What, it's not everyday I have the chance to cover [ insert name of your favourite band ]," he says. "I just had to try sneaking into his trailer. I have was really hoping to get an interview."

Jess gasps, and narrows her eyes at him. "So, did you?" she whispers.

"No, Tiny, I got arrested," he laughs.

"That's a shame," she says ruefully as she opens the door to her car.

"Um, she doesn't know yet," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

Jason catches her by the shoulder before she slides into the driver seat. He holds his hand out, eyebrows raised. "You know the rules."

"Jay! You just got arrested," she says incredulously.

"Rules are rules, Tiny," he shrugs. "I didn't make 'em."

"Yes, you did," she mutters, but drops the car keys in his palm and walks over to the passenger's side of the car.

He laughs at her annoyed face as she sits in the passenger car. He revs the car engine and as he adjusts the rearview mirror, he says in a British accent, "Seatbelt, little one."

"In place," she says, mirroring the accent.

As they pull out, she laughs at him fondly. "I missed you."

"Missed you too, Tiny," he says, smiling.

As they pull out of the parking lot, Jason slips into the British accent again. "Lead the way to your abode, little one."

"Actually, I was thinking," says Jess in the accent, but there's a certain nervousness to it. "Why don't we go to Cece's house?"

"What? Why?" asks Jason, frowning. "I wanna see where you live. And the guys of course. And _your boyfriend_."

"Well, I thought you could surprise Cece. I'm sure she'd love to see you," says Jess. "Besides, Nick's um, kind of busy today."

"Alright. To Little C's house," he says, and notices when she looks slightly relieved. He doesn't comment on that, but decides to take it up later.

"Okay, then," grins Jess. "And don't call her "little" anymore. I don't think she appreciates it very much."

Jason laughs. "She never did."

"So, how's Liv?" asks Jess, and gives him a knowing smile.

"She's doing great!" he shrugs. "In New York on an assignment."

"Did you tell her about being arrested?" she asks slyly.

He looks at her sheepishly, and shakes his head once. "She worries too much."

"And that's why I love her," she laughs, and after that, they settle into a comfortable silence.

As they drive towards Cece's house, Jason throws a sideward glance at Jess. She's humming that theme song of hers, and he still remembers writing the chords down for that. It amuses him to no end that Jess still sings it. She is and bobbing up and down in her seat, and he loves that nothing about her has changed.

…

"I swear the only reason I didn't get on the next plane from Milan and talk some sense into this idiot about living with three strange men was because one of them punched Blondie in the face," says Jason pointedly as he sips on cold beer. "They did my job for me."

"Well, Schmidt actually _slapped_ Spencer," giggles Jess, holding her glass out for Cece to refill her wine.

"Wait, Schmidt is the guy that Little C….?"

"Yep," says Cece, taking a quick sip of her wine. "And I'm _not_ "little"!"

Laughing, Jason stands up, excusing himself to use the washroom. Cece looks at Jess questioningly, eyebrows raised.

"What?"

"Why did you bring him here?" asks Cece.

"I thought you'd be happy to see him!" says Jess, surprised.

"I am, I really am," nods Cece. "But knowing you, you would've taken him home and immediately baked him that coconut cake he loves so much and _then_ brought him over here."

Jess grunts, but doesn't say anything.

"Babe, what's going on?" she asks.

"He's going to scare Nick away," she mutters at last.

"What?"

"Look, Cece," says Jess, turning to face her. "Nick and I love each other, but we haven't really _talked_ about a few things yet. Knowing Jay, he's going to… ask Nick questions that make him uncomfortable and…. I don't want him to freak out."

"You make him sound like your dad," says Cece with amusement.

"Don't let him hear you say that," snorts Jess.

Cece looks at her thoughtfully for a few seconds and asks, "And how do _you_ feel about the whole thing?"

"How do I feel about what?" says Jess, nervously playing with her hands.

"About not having _talked_ about a few things with Nick?"

"It's okay," she says quickly, and starts rambling. "I mean, we love each other. I love him. And he loves me. The talking can wait because we love each other. Does anything else really matter? No it doesn't. It doesn't."

Cece raises her brows. "Jess," she says knowingly. "I know you. You need to-"

She falls quiet when they hear Jason enter the living room again.

"So, Jay, how long are you staying here for?" says Jess quickly, and Jason looks at both of their faces and knows that this was a desperate change of topic. Cece is smiling too widely and Jess is not meeting his eyes.

He narrows his eyes as he falls back onto the couch. "A couple of days," he says, keeping his eyes on Jess. "Liv will be landing in L.A. the tomorrow. I have… plans."

"What plans?" asks Jess suspiciously, and when Jason smirks mischievously, she scrunches her nose. "Never mind, I don't want to know."

Jason merely laughs. "So I was wondering if I could crash at your place, Tiny. Till Liv is here and-"

"You can stay here, Jay," chimes in Cece, and Jess throws her a relieved smile. "The loft has too many people already."

Jess nods and says, "Yeah, she's right, Jay. The guys are all very noisy too and messy-"

"I guess that makes sense," says Jason slowly.

"Great!" says Cece, and grins. "Your making the dinner for today then."

Jason groans and refuses at first, and finally relents. The three of the of them take time to catch up will almost evening, when Jess finally gets up to go home. She kisses Jason's cheek and hugs Cece, thanking her softly at the door before leaving.

…

When Jess returns to the loft, she can tell something's off with Nick. He's sitting tensely on her bed, and she knows there's something on his mind. She says nothing and goes to change out of her clothes first. Once she's in her pyjamas, she walks out and sits next to him.

"Hey," she says, leaning into him lightly.

"Hey," he mutters. "How'd it go with your brother?"

"Good," she says, a small smile on her face. "He's crashing at Cece's for the night."

"At Cece's?" he frowns. "Why not bring him here?"

Jess looks at him, surprised, unsure what this was about. "Because it's already so crowded?"

Nick sighs in exasperation and turns to look at her fully, deciding to get straight to the point. "Jess, are you embarrassed by me?"

Jess is clearly taken aback. "What? Why would you think that!"

"Why won't you let me meet your brother?"

Jess purses her lips. She wasn't sure she could talk about that to Nick without bringing up "The Talk", so she simply stares at him dumbfoundedly. She wants to tell him, she really does, because she knows of his insecurities. But her throat is dry and she doesn't know what to say. Nick stares back at her, waiting with a pleading look in his eyes, but gets no response from her. She looks like a deer caught in headlights, and he doesn't want to push her anymore. He looks away after a few minutes and stands up to leave.

"Where're you going?"

"To my room," he mutters.

She wants to protest, but she doesn't. She needed some time to mull over things. As she watches him start to leave, she says, "I love you."

"I love you, too," he says softly, and leaves the bedroom, closing the door shut behind him.

* * *

 **A/N: Let me know your thoughts on Jason. I'm curious.**

 **Need you all to know that with this, I'm laying the foundation to "something bigger" that you'll soon find out. So I hope you have the patience to stick with me. :)**

 **The parts you don't see, just assume it's the same way as it was on the show. :')**

 _ **Leave some juicy reviews please.**_


	2. Brother II

**Brother II**

Next morning, Jess wakes up to her phone ringing madly again. Thoroughly annoyed, and not having been able to sleep properly, she holds the phone up to her ear angrily.

"What!?" she says, annoyed.

"Whoa, good morning to you too!" says a bubbly voice on the other end.

Jess recognizes the voice immediately and sits up in her bed. "Liv!"

"In the flesh!" she says. "Or rather in the voice."

Jess feels her annoyance fade away and she starts to smile. "Are you here already?" she says, looking at the clock, surprised at her early arrival.

"Well, yes. But I need your help with something," she says conspiratorially.

"Ohh, an adventure! I'm in!" says Jess happily.

"Great!" says Liv. "I'm going to propose to your brother today."

"What!?" Jess squeaks. "Oh my god, Liv! That's great! I just… Oh my god!"

She jumps out of bed and hurries out of her bedroom, still gushing as she rushes to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

"And your brother can't know, not a hint," warns Liv.

"Of course, not!" frowns Jess, mouth full of paste, but says, "But Liv, I think he might have an idea already. He said he had "plans" with you today."

"Oh, that's fine," says Liv dismissively. "I sort of, planted an idea as to what we, er, would be doing today."

"Olivia May Smith, ew!" scolds Jess, and as she continues to brush, Liv tells her the entire plan, and in the end, says, "I need you to keep you brother busy. Any ideas?"

As Jess walks out of the bathroom, she sees Nick is already in the kitchen, back turned to her as he makes coffee. She pauses to watch him, contemplating.

"Huh," she says.

Jess is still staring when Nick turns around and he pauses when he sees her. She shoots him an unsure smile, and so does he. It doesn't reach his eyes. She sighs. "I might just have an idea. I'll call you back in a little while?"

"Sure!" says Liv. "I'll be waiting!" she sings.

"Okay," says Jess, smiling.

She hangs up and walks up to the kitchen. Nick's sitting at the kitchen island, sipping coffee and has already put water for boil in her kettle. She leans in to kiss his cheek as she passes him, and lets her fingers linger on his shoulder for a few moments as she makes herself some tea.

She sits across him, and watches him till he looks up from his coffee mug. "My brother's girlfriend wants my help to propose Jay," she says slowly.

He looks at her quizzically, and she continues. "I need your help to keep him distracted."

"You want me to meet your brother?" he asks, frowning.

"Yes, Nick," she sighs. "I'm not embarrassed of you. It's just that… Jay can be a little scary. He scared the daylights out of the Glenn Ealy. You know, the boy I first kissed? And-"

"I thought that was Bob?" says Nick, eyebrows.

"Dad first," Jess nods. "Jason later. I never saw Glenn again," she muses.

"Oh," says Nick, because she isn't yet sure what Jess is driving at.

"He'll ask too many questions," explains Jess, "About the future and… everything."

Her heart sinks a little when she sees the panic start to enter his face, but she pushes that feeling out of her head, telling herself that it didn't matter; all that mattered was that they loved each other, right?

Right.

Right.

"It's okay, Nick," she forces herself to say. "I mean I haven't thought about that too much either," she lies.

He nods, clearly relieved as his tense shoulders start to relax. Her eyes sting a little, but she tells herself that thinking so far ahead into the future could do her no good. Maybe that's why her relationships before had failed. She had to try not to let that ruin this relationship because there was so much more at stake here.

"So, you're good with um, having lunch with Jason? The three of us?" she presses.

"Yeah, I guess," he says, and asks worriedly, "What do I do if he does ask me questions?"

"Lie. Give him vague answers," she says, trying to keep the smile pasted on her face. "You could just say that we both decided to discuss that later. Or… I-I'll just answer those questions for you."

"Okay, good," he says, nodding at her before asking, "Why are you telling me this now? Why not last night?"

"I didn't think you'd be that upset about it," she says slowly and continues. "I just needed you to know why," she says slowly, "I mean, both of us haven't thought about the future at all. Right? I mean, thinking that far into the future? Ha, who does that? Am I right?..."

She laughs nervously and Nick's frowning at her. "Jess…"

"You can't always plan things. Everyone has different ideas, right? Who needs planning? I don't! And-"

"Jess!" he says, louder this time, cutting her off.

She stares at him, and she knows he knows that something's wrong. But she cannot remove his relieved expression from her mind. He's waiting for an explanation, but instead, she forces another laugh.

"Oops, sorry," she says nervously. "Anyway, I need to call, Liv. I'll see you in a bit."

She finishes her tea, blinking away the sting her eyes and berates herself for being such an emotional person. She gets up quickly and places her mug in the sink, Nick's standing up too and as she turns to leave, he slips an arm around her waist and pulls her in for a kiss.

"You know I love you, right?" he breathes.

She gives him a small smile. "I know. I love you, too," she says, and kisses his lips again.

He lets her go, and she cups his face with the smallest of sighs. Running a thumb over his cheek, she gives him another smile before turning away and hurrying away to call Liv and get ready.

Nick hasn't missed the slight redness under her eyes, an indicator of controlled tears and he feels himself start to worry. As he watches her disappear into her bedroom, her phone to her ear, he tries to quell the uneasy feeling in his gut.

…

Jess is quiet on their drive to the restaurant they were meeting Jason at. Nick keeps shooting nervous side glances towards, because the way she's worrying her lips and playing with her hair, he knows something's bothering her. It worries him more that she won't talk to him about it, because "talking" was Jessica Day's MO.

"Jess-"

"I'm fine," she says quickly and turns to give him a quick smile.

It doesn't reach her eyes and she looks away immediately, her fingers drumming the on her thigh. Nick sighs, so he reaches out and clasps her hand drumming hand with one hand, still it. She looks at their intertwined hands and gives him a full smile this time, but says nothing.

…

When they reach the cafe, Jason is already waiting for them outside. It's hard to believe that he's Jess's older brother at first. In sharp contrast to Jess's rainbow closet, he's wearing a black leather jacket over a grey t-shirt, paired with acid washed blue jeans. But when they get closer, Nick starts to see it. His hair his lighter hers, but they have the same eyes and the same half-smile.

"Hi, Jay," she smiles and he leans forward to hug her and plants a kiss on her temple. "Nick, this is my brother, Jason. Jason, Nick."

"Jason," says Nick and holds his hand up as a greeting.

"Nicholas," he nods.

"Okay," says Jess. "Let's eat!"

Nick steps forward and holds the door open for both of them. Jess smiles at him as she walks in and Jason nods again. As they walk in, Nick steps inside and lets the door close behind him. He runs a hand down his face and slaps both of his cheeks, and shakes his head once before following them.

…

"And then, Nick and I fell through the roof, straight onto the altar," giggles Jess.

"I've heard this story a million times in Portland, Tiny," says Jason, rolling his eyes with a smirk on his face. Then he turns to Nick, with narrowed eyes. "Which reminds me, I've been meaning to ask you… Why was my sister up in the vents with you?"

"Uh," starts Nick, unsure of what to say. "We were, er, trying to sabotage Cece's wedding?"

"We?" hisses Jess. "I was trying to stop you from doing that!"

"That was actual, legitimate sabotage?" asks Jason, eyebrows raised, and Jess tenses slightly, looking at Nick.

Nick blinks. "I- I mean, well-"

Jason bursts out laughing and shakes his head. "It's alright, I was messing with you. I'm glad you did whatever you did. Little C wouldn't have been happy with that man, anyway."

Nick chuckles nervously at first and then joins in their laughter, while Jess's shoulders sag in relief.

"Anyway, that's the night Nick and I went off to Mexico," chimes in Jess.

"Oh, I know," says Jason. "Dad had to go to the airport alone, and he wouldn't stop complaining about it," he says, rolling his eyes.

Jess looks at him sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"Anyways, so what's next for you two?" he asks.

Jess freezes and Nick just looks at Jess, waiting for her to say something. Inhaling deeply, Jess forces a smile. "Well, Jay, we decided to take it slow. I mean, we decided to er, be spontaneous and not… plan things. Who plans things, right?"

She punches Nick in the shoulder and laughs nervously. Jason is frowning now, looking back and forth between them. He can tell Jess is lying, and Nick's collar is darkening with sweat. Jess smiles tightly at him, and Jason makes a mental note to talk to her later.

"We live in the same loft anyway," interjects Nick. "So we won't even, like, have to worry about moving in or anything, right, Jess?" he says, looking at her.

She's a little taken aback at that, because they had never spoken about that. She wants to dismiss it as nervous rambling on Nick's behalf, but the small part of her that's worried about how he doesn't want to talk about anything, wonders if there's more to it. The strange feeling in her chest tightens. For now, she gives him a small smile and merely nods in agreement.

Jason simply says, "You okay, Tiny?"

"Yes, of course. I couldn't agree more with what Nick said," she says trying to chuckle, but her eyes are stinging again.

"I'll just head to the ladies' room," she mutters, at last, setting her napkin down and standing up.

After she's out of sight, Jason turns to look at Nick, who gives him a nervous smile.

"Bob doesn't like you very much," Jason says slowly. "He said that you were a lot like him."

"Yeah, he did say that," Nick chuckles nervously, and gulps. "Among other things."

"I don't get along with Bob very well," says Jason, keeping his gaze steady on Nick.

"Jess did mention something on the lines," nods Nick, still nervous.

Jason sighs and clasps both his hands in front of him, and looks pointedly at Nick. "Look, Nick, I've known her since she was a kid-"

"Oh, I don't doubt that," jokes Nick nervously, and seeing Jason's eyebrows raised, he purses his lips. "Sorry. Continue," he says, pointing with an open hand at him.

"It's not like her to not plan. She's definitely planned things. It's her… thing. She's been planning everything since she was a kid," he pauses and then continues. "Okay, I'll get straight to the point. Nick, do you see a future with her?"

Truth was that Nick didn't see it. Not only because was she too good for him and he worried that they wouldn't really last, but because he doesn't let himself. He'd done that far too often with far too many women, and that had only brought him fresh waves of pain. He knew that it was different with Jess. He had even let himself think on occasion that Jess was it for him, but he never let the thought blossom. He was simply too afraid, as ashamed as he was of that.

So all Nick says is, "I love her."

"Bob loved Mom too, Nick," Jason says quietly, shaking his head.

Nick doesn't know what to say to that, so he just looks at the half-eaten spaghetti on his plate. He doesn't feel like eating it anymore. He forces a smile on his face when Jess returns from the washroom and takes a seat. He notices her red-rimmed eyes and catches Jason's knowing look. He reaches out to take one of Jess's hands, clasped tightly in her lap under the table. She resists at first but gives in at last. He holds her hand in his and rubs a thumb over her knuckles before squeezing her hand gently. She squeezes back and there's a small smile on her face, but he can still sense some tension radiating from her, and it does nothing to soothe the increasing unease in his gut.

* * *

 **A/N: Just FYI, imagine this taking place instead of those three godawful-could've-been-so-much-better 'Sister' episodes. Anyways, the reason I'm writing it this way is cuz I'm trying to make more sense of Mars Landing.**


	3. Brother III

**Brother III**

Through the rest of the lunch, Jason's words trouble him, because he knows Jason is right. She's always said she always loved more, and that worries him. He's still holding her hand and she's holding on to his tightly. He doesn't miss the guarded concerned looks she keeps throwing his way, and he feels a little guilty. So he tries to focus on the conversation.

Jason's frowning at his phone. "Liv says her flight will be a little late."

"Mhm," says Jess, sipping her coffee and looks at Jason over the rim of her mug.

"I had… plans," mutters Jason, looking a little lost. "And she doesn't want me to pick her up either! That's weird."

"Jay…" starts Jess.

"I'm telling you, Tiny, something's off," says Jason, staring at his phone with narrowed eyes.

Jess giggles. "Don't think so much, Jay. It's just-"

"You know don't you?" asks Jason, eyes widening with realization.

Jess sets her mug down and looks at him with the straightest expression Nick has ever seen her wear. "I don't know what you're talking about, Jay."

"Right," Jason scoffs.

He doesn't ask any more question and as lunch is finished, everyone argues as to who would pay the bill.. While they argue, Jess shoots Liv a quick text telling her that lunch is done and is relieved that Liv's plan was in place. Nick wins the argument and he triumphantly pays for the lunch.

The three of them walk out of the restaurant, Nick and Jess holding hands.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Tiny," says Jason, frowning at his phone. "Liv wants to meet at the… park? Huh. That's odd."

"Why?" asks Jess.

"Well, that's where I was planning… things," he mutters.

Jess scrunches her nose. "Okay, big brother."

"What, no, no," laughs Jason. "I was… Well, never mind, I gotta go now. I'll fill you in later."

"Alright," grins Jess. "See you soon, Jay."

"See you, Tiny," he smiles and kisses the top of her head.

"See you around Nick," he says, nodding at him.

Nick merely nods back, tightening his grip on Jess's hand as they watch Jason walk towards his car. Her thumb grazes his hand, and he feels some of his worry dissipate. Jason waves at them once more from his car as he pulls out.

"I can't believe he's getting married," she says happily, as the two of them walk towards Nick's car.

Nick smiles at her, noting that this the first genuine smile she's smiled in a while.

"Yeah?" he says, prompting her to speak more.

"Yeah," she nods. "I mean Liv and Jason have been together since forever! She was his crush in kindergarten," she giggles.

"Wow, they go way back," says Nick surprised.

"They're just so perfect!" she sighs cheerily. "I don't think I've ever seen them fight. Like ever. Well, maybe once," she laughs. "Liv told Jay to 'kiss her ass' when he'd said that proms were stupid and that was why they should just stay home. The sassy dumbass he is, he said 'gladly' and Liv was mad."

"That's cute…." says Nick chuckling a little as he opens the door to his car. "I think."

As Jess puts on her seatbelt and Nick revs up the engine, Jess says, "I love them so much. If it wasn't for the two of them, Mom and Dad's divorce would've been so much worse for me to deal with it."

Nick nods in understanding as he pulls out of the parking. That seems to explain how Jess could possibly be so optimistic about love and marriage despite her parents' divorce. As he starts driving home, Jess is humming now and seems a little bit more like herself.

…

That evening, Liv and Jason announce their engagement to everyone at the Griffin. Everyone's excited and happy.

It comes to light that Jason had been planning to propose to Liv that very afternoon in the same park, and somehow, Liv had gotten wind of that.

 _"And of course, I had to beat him to it,"_ she shrugs with a laugh.

Jewellery store receipts were apparently a dead giveaway and should be burnt before being trashed. And when you know someone all your life, you can almost read their mind with the smallest of leads.

When Jason had wanted Liv to come to Los Angeles a week after she'd found the receipt, she had just known. The park was where they'd lost track of time and had been stuck in there for a whole night when out on an assignment while interning with a magazine in Los Angeles. That night, the L-word was dropped, and what better place to propose in?

 _"So romantic_ ," agrees Cece.

After some celebratory champagne (on the house, of course) and Liv telling Jason off about his arrest, Cece went home with some random guy, much to Schmidt's chagrin. Winston left soon after as well, followed by Jason and Liv because they had a flight to catch the next day and there was packing to do.

Jess waits for Nick to finish up at the bar, and the two of them walk home together, hand-in-hand.

Jess can't stop thinking about the future tonight, and she worries about the future of her relationship with Nick. The last year had been one of the best in her life, but now it felt like they were stuck in the same place. She did wonder if that was such a bad thing, but not knowing what was next, if there was anything at all, bothered her. She knows that Nick knows something's up, and she wants to talk to him about it so bad, but she can't.

Nick can tell from the nervous darting of Jess's eyes that she's dying to talk to him about something but that she's hesitating. Besides, there's also how she's unusually silent. Nick doesn't really have to guess what she wants to talk to him about; Jason's words echo in his mind again and he knows that her brother getting engaged has affected her in some way.

Despite himself, he sighs and tugs at her hand, pulling them both to a stop on the pavement.

"Alright, what is it?" he asks.

"What?" she asks.

"I know something's bothering you," he says, now taking both her hands in each of his.

She sighs and leans in him a little, and he kisses the top of her head.

"I was just... thinking about our future..." she murmurs into his chest. She doesn't tell him to what extent she's already thought about it.

"I figured as much," he says quietly. "Jess, I just think that... Look, I love you, alright? But I... I just can't... I've thought about our future too," he lies, chickening away from the truth in the last minute _because_ he loves her, and what if it drove her away.

"Really?" she says, surprised, looking up at him.

"Yeah," he says thickly. "I mean, not to the detail or anything but-"

"No," she says quickly. "That's-That's fine. You've thought about it... So-so you do see a future? For us?"

"Of course!" he says, and he means it.

"Okay," she says and kisses his chin.

"Okay?"

"Okay. That's enough for me," she says because she knows just telling her that much was difficult for him, and she doesn't want to push him. "I just thought that you didn't see us going anywhere, you know? I was just-"

He interrupts her with a kiss, and her arms circle his neck as she pulls him closer to her.

"I love you," he says, the second he draws back to breathe.

"I love you too," she smiles.

"I love you," he repeats. "And we'll make this work."

"I think so too," she says and she genuinely believes it.

...

The next day, Nick and Jess are seeing Liv and Jason off. Jess is parking the car after dropping Jason and Nick at the entrance with the luggage, and Liv is keeping her company. The two men stand in silence for a few seconds, before Jason looks at Nick thoughtfully. Nick looks back coolly, feeling slightly more at ease after having spoken to Jess last evening.

"Don't hurt her, Nick," says Jason at last, and without flinching, he continues. "Or I will end you."

"Funny, Cece said something similar to me when Jess first moved in," chuckles Nick nervously.

Jason just laughs knowingly, and Nick says quietly, "I won't. Hurt her, I mean. I really do love her, you know."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," says Jason. "But I know she loves you too, and that's why you can probably hurt her a lot more," he says.

Before Nick can say anything, Jess and Liv return.

"Well, nice meeting you, Nicholas," says Jason airily, holding his hand out.

"Pleasure's all mine," says Nick, shaking Jason's hand.

"You take care of her," he says, throwing an arm around Liv's waist.

Nick's hands slip around Jess's waist and he pulls her into his side. "I will."

* * *

 _A couple of days later, they wake up to one of their worst hangovers._

 _In a fit of panic, Nick tells Jess that he wants to be a trucker in space and that he_ _pictures his wife and kids living on Mars Landing. She disagrees._

 _She finally confesses the full extent of her, to know that they were on the same page. Everyone needs a plan, she says. Nick disagrees._

 _They agree that they're better off as friends._

* * *

 _The next time Nick meets Jason is three years later_ _when after coming home to her empty bedroom, he chases after Jess to Portland._

* * *

 **A/N: I wouldn't be surprised if most of you don't like this, oops. I know this might be disappointing, but I built all that tension up on purpose for it to implode in Mars Landing.**

 **I wanted to make more sense of that out-of-the-blue fight in ML, with all the "I don't want to have to change" and the "I'm not myself" sort of thing.**

 **More legit drama in "Season 7-with-Jason-where-Nick-follows-Jess-to-Portland" AU, I promise.**


End file.
